~ Curing Meats & Other DIY Food Projects

Duck Pastrami

After using the legs for stuffing the duck neck and the livers and heart for some offal toast toppings, I broke into the high dollar cut, the breast, and, with it, made one of the best sandwiches that I have had in months.

In general, I am a sucker for substituting duck breast in cured meat applications. Whether it be prosciutto, ham, cretons, and bacon-ish meat, it was all very good, but the pastrami may be my favorite. The nice layer of fat on the breast compares pretty favorably to the fattiness of a brisket, but the richness and ease of cure distribution are obvious plusses to working with the duck.

To cure the breast, I used the same brine as used for regular pastrami, but on the advice of duck pastrami enthusiast, Chuck Sudo, I supplemented the rub of black pepper and coriander with pimenton and powdered garlic (2 parts black pepper:1 part coriander:1 part pimenton:1 part garlic). After applying the rub liberally, I smoked the pastrami over bourbon barrel wood for 3 hours. Instead of slicing and steaming, I simply sliced the pastrami.

Once sliced, I made a few sandwiches on a French roll (despite what Whole Foods calls it, it is not a baguette) with yellow mustard. It was awesome. It has really strong pastrami flavors to go along with the great smokiness. After a few trials with the rub being too coarsely ground, I took the spurs to it and it really paid off with a nice crunchy outside packed with flavor. This was a favorite.

I use a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker. Since I live in the city, space is really limited and I could not fit a grill and smoker on our deck. I also use the smoker as a grill. I love it. Really compact, maintains temp really well, and is easy to clean. I hot smoked the duck using some whiskey barrel wood that I acquired from a local brewer. It has a long burn with tons of sweet smoke.

That sounds like a really great limited-space solution. I’m wondering if I could use my Cameron stove-top smoker. I’d have to look for some whiskey barrel wood to turn into the (essentially) sawdust that this smoker uses. I love my smoker a lot –I’ve done fish, sausage, cheese, and most recently: hickory smoked almonds. I think I’ll give this a try!

I am a little late to the game on these duck recipes, but wow… this stuff sounds amazing… I am raising ducks for meat and eggs this year, and after reading these recipes, I might need to get more birds… also, for this and the duck “ham” would goose work too…

You can never have too much duck. I think that, like rabbit, you have a whole duck, you can easily use all parts in a weekend and still have fat to fry with on Monday. A goose would work equally well. I am just getting into using geese. Beautiful animals.